BRISTOL, Tenn. – More than 40 unsold units in the RaceDay Center Condominiums complex will be auctioned in a Sept. 29 foreclosure sale – a move intended to settle remaining debt on a loan used to develop the luxury condos on Volunteer Parkway.
The sale will involve 42 vacant condos in Tower No. 2 of RaceDay Center, a 92-unit, two-building complex built by RaceDay Center LLC in Bristol, Tenn.
Also up for auction will be campground land behind the condo complex, which is across from Bristol Motor Speedway.
Since building the complex in 2006, RaceDay Center quickly sold out its 40-unit Tower No. 1. But the developer has sold only a handful of the 52 condos in Tower No. 2, which is adjacent to the first tower.
The foreclosure sale, which will be at 11 a.m. at the Sullivan County Courthouse in Blountville, Tenn., has been initiated by BB&T Bank, which gave RaceDay Center an $18.3 million loan in 2004 to acquire and develop land for the condos.
David Fielder, a Knoxville lawyer appointed by BB&T Bank to serve as trustee for the Sept. 29 auction, said it will focus solely on the vacant units and campground land, and won’t affect operation of the remaining RaceDay Center condos.
“It won’t have any impact on anything else,” Fielder said Monday.
He declined comment on how much RaceDay Center still owes on the original $18.3 million loan.
RaceDay Center officials would not comment Monday beyond a written statement that said they made several unsuccessful proposals to BB&T to resolve or restructure the debt, but would keep working with the bank on “various alternatives to the foreclosure.”
In the statement, the company blamed the struggling economy for slow condo sales. The developer noted that as late as summer 2007, it had sales contracts for 35 of the 52 units in Tower No. 2 – only to see nearly all buyers back out as the nation’s real-estate crisis began.
“The situation is a direct result of the prolonged economic downturn, which has significantly slowed the residential housing market – particularly luxury establishments such as RaceDay,” the release states.
The unsold condos are furnished one- and multi-bedroom suites, with the highest priced around $399,000.
Bristol Motor Speedway and city officials offered little comment Monday on the pending auction.
Kevin Triplett, BMS’ vice president of public affairs, noted that the speedway has no affiliation with the condo complex, which – because it literally sits only yards from the track – has been a popular lodging spot for fans and visitors during March and August race weeks.
“We don’t have any more of a relationship with it than we have with other race lodging spots in the area,” Triplett said of RaceDay Center. “We’ll just have to see how this all shakes out.”
Bristol Deputy City Manager Michael Sparks also said he knew little about the foreclosure sale.
“No one has contacted us about it,” Sparks said. “But we assume anyone who does take part in [the sale] will do it with ideas in mind for the condos.”
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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